Pickup trucks have been used for many years as working vehicles. In recent years pickup trucks have become increasingly popular as family transportation vehicles, because of their dual ability to haul passengers and cargo. The cargo bed surfaces of pickup trucks are generally finished with paint by the manufacturer. If the painted surfaces are unprotected, they can be scratched from cargo impact or deteriorated by weather or corrosives, seriously detracting from the value of the trucks. Whether a pickup truck is used as a working vehicle or as a family transportation vehicle, it is important to keep the surface of the cargo bed in satisfactory condition.
Various cargo bed liners used to protect the surface of cargo beds are described in prior art patents. One piece molded plastic truck liners comprising a front wall, opposing side walls and a bottom wall are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,592,583 to Dresen, et al., 4,341,412 to Wayne, 4,336,963 to Nix, et al., 4,181,349 to Nix, et al., 4,047,749 to Lambitz, and 3,814,473 to Lorenzen. All of the above patents show molded plastic liners which in practice have usually been thermoformed from high density polyethylene which has excellent strength, toughness and durability, and will withstand the normal expected weather extremes to which a pickup truck likely is exposed in normal use.
During the past 15 years in excess of 10 million unitary molded plastic bed liners have been sold and installed in pickup trucks in the United States. Plastic bed liners have in that period become one of the most common OEM and after market accessories purchased by pickup truck owners to protect the value of their pickup trucks. Very recently it has been reported that in a handful of cases, explosions have occurred while gas cans resting on plastic surfaces were being filled with gasoline. While the causes of such explosions have not been established, it has been theorized that such explosions have been caused or may be caused in the future by the build up of static electricity during refueling of gas containers resting on plastic bed liners.
Therefore, a need is perceived to provide a one-piece plastic protective cargo bed liner which will prevent and dissipate static electricity buildup on the liner surface.